Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it is “unacceptable” that ministers were not informed for two weeks about an 11-year-old girl who was misidentified by police, handcuffed, and injected with antipsychotic drugs at a mental health facility.
An investigation into the incident is expected to be completed in days, but health bosses are still at a loss to explain how the girl was wrongly identified as a missing patient in her 20s.
And the Mental Health Foundation says the country urgently needs far better controls and resources for “minimising times when any person can be forced to receive medication they have not consented to”.
Police were called to the Fairfield Bridge in Hamilton at about 6.40am on March 9, after a person described as a female in her 20s was seen climbing onto the railings.
The Herald understands the girl is autistic and non-verbal.
Police were concerned she was suffering from a mental health episode and took her to Waikato Hospital’s Henry Bennett Centre for assessment where she was handcuffed and understood to have been injected with two doses of haloperidol, an antipsychotic medicine.
At about 6pm — some 12 hours after police responded to the bridge incident — a woman reported to police that her 11-year-old daughter was missing.
Health NZ, which has apologised for the “traumatic experience”, has launched an investigation, which was expected to conclude in five days. It was understood police were also conducting a separate review.
Luxon today described the incident as “incredibly concerning”.
“As a parent, you identify with what is a horrific set of circumstances that has happened and it’s just incredibly distressing and concerning, massive amounts of empathy and concern for her and her family.”
Ministers were informed of the incident following a Herald query on Friday afternoon, two weeks after it occurred.
Luxon said the two-week delay was “unacceptable” and expected the review to uncover what had happened.
Speaking to RNZ’s Midday Report today, Health NZ deputy chief executive for Te Manawa Taki (Central North Island region) Cath Cronin said the review would be completed in a matter of days, not months.
She could not say when the outcomes would be made public.
“We unreservedly feel great empathy with this family and just can’t imagine the distress that this has caused.
“We are giving absolute support for this girl and her family, making sure that they’ve got the support that they need to make sure that their girl is well looked after and in the right sort of space for resuming her life.”
Cronin said Health NZ would “not shy away” from any review and would do “everything to ensure that this doesn’t happen again”.
Asked how nobody noticed the 11-year-old girl was not in her 20s, Cronin said: “That’s exactly what the review is looking at and we want to make absolutely sure that this won’t happen again in the future.
“The staff had the information available on the day and that’s what we have to examine,” she said.
Cronin said the family was “feeling well supported” while participating in the review with Health NZ.
“We’re keeping very close to them.”
Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson said the incident was “very disturbing and should never have happened”.
“It demonstrates how urgently New Zealand needs a properly funded mental health emergency response service and much better controls and resources for minimising times when any person can be forced to receive medication they have not consented to,” Robinson said.
“My thoughts are with the child and her whānau, with the young woman who was missing from care and with all the staff involved.”
The Health and Disability Commissioner confirmed it had received a complaint about the incident and it was being assessed.
Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad said she only became aware of the incident today through the media.
“I am very concerned to hear about this situation involving an 11-year-old child, and I am thinking of her and her whānau while they navigate the aftermath of what has occurred.
“Every child in our country has a right to be safe in our communities.”
Achmad said she is seeking information about how this situation occurred and is ready to provide independent children’s rights advice.
She was pleased that police and Health NZ had acknowledged mistakes and committed to a full review.
“It is essential that any review and response puts this child’s rights and specific needs, wellbeing, and interests at the centre, and supports her active participation.”
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said this morning that he was disappointed it took so long for him to be informed by Health NZ.
“I spoke to Dale Bramley, the acting chief executive, to say that was quite frankly not good enough, but the serious incident review is under way and I expect to keep updated on how that review is going.”
Doocey said he had been advised the girl was “well at home” and understood she was not suffering from any side effects from the injections.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare and that’s why I’ve sought assurance of the welfare of the 11-year-old, I’ve been given that assurance that she is doing well.”
He said his office wasn’t informed earlier because there was no escalation of the incident within Health NZ itself, meaning its acting chief executive wasn’t told either.
”Because their own escalation protocols weren’t followed, then my office wasn’t informed either.”
He said the incident “appeared to stay local”.
”So that’s part of the serious incident review now to understand why that wasn’t followed - whether someone actively chose not to escalate the issue, or there was confusion whether some people thought someone else was notifying.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell described the situation as a “perfect storm” for the officers involved who, Mitchell understood, tried to check the girl’s identification with “someone that knew her” but she was still misidentified.
Mitchell, who returned from a week-long visit to India alongside Luxon on Saturday, said he was briefed on his return but did not condemn the delay.
He endorsed the intention behind the officers’ actions during the incident.
“Unfortunately, through the process, she was misidentified. But let me be clear, the police, in my view, from the minute they received a call from members of the public to say they were very concerned about this young woman’s situation, have done nothing but try to support and care for her, including taking [her] to the hospital.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said it was a “really concerning situation” and encouraged the “appropriate bodies” to investigate what had happened.
Hipkins, a former health and police minister, was also concerned current ministers weren’t told about the incident for two weeks.
“I’d be having some very stern words with a range of Government departments, [I’d] be pulling them all in actually to find out exactly how this happened.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.